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Rastignac? Grandet? Swindler? Arsène Lupin? Ponzi scheme concerning letters and manuscripts? The adventures of Gérard X, formidable businessman, founder and manager of the Aristophil company, were abruptly interrupted in November 2014, with the search of the company premises and its property by the judicial police.
The company was put into receivership on February 16 2015, and on 4 March of the same year Gérard X was indicted for deceptive marketing practices, organised fraud, laundering, breach of…

As 26 June 2017 approaches – the date of entry into effect of the Recast EU Insolvency Regulation (2015/8484/EU) – we look in detail at the new provisions for co-ordinating the insolvency proceedings of members of a pan-European group of companies and consider whether the new proposals for co-operation will be compulsory, the practicalities of who will pay the co-ordinator’s fees and whether the creditors can have a say in the process.…

It is not always easy to prioritize between the various goals pursued in every insolvency legislation, namely; the continuation of the company, preservation of the jobs, the general economic/public interest and the payment of dividends to creditors.
There is no clear hierarchy in French law amongst these major targets and French case law appears fairly pragmatic. However compared to Insolvency regulations in other countries, French legislation and French case law appear very protective of the interests…

A scandal in the world of letters and old manuscripts would not have gone unnoticed and the French case of Aristophil has lead to extensive press coverage; a massive fraud is suspected with thousands of works and hundreds of millions of euros at stake.
The concept was appealing: manuscripts full of history, a promise of elevated re-sale value, the support of big names in art and politics. Many succumbed to the temptation of such an investment. The…

Cathryn Williams, Andreas Lehmann, Fernando Gonzalez and Antoine Adeline have written an article for the Journal of Corporate Renewal in its May 2015 issue entitled “EU Retailers’ Struggles Continue Amid Signs of Improvement.”
Click here to read the article.…

The continued modernisation of the French economy has been a long and difficult process but, as a former British prime minister was fond of saying, “there is no alternative”.
Emmanuel Macron, the Minister of Economy, Finances and Industry, and other members of the French government are currently championing a new bill relating to “growth and buying power” (called « Loi sur la croissance et le pouvoir d’achat »), whose goal is to free up sectors of the French economy currently…

In a Cross-Jurisdictional review of distressed loan sales in US, France, Germany and Spain, Squire Patton Boggs’ insolvency/restructuring lawyers from each of these jurisdictions give a high-level overview of both economic and legal market trends and how certain key legal issues are being addressed by their local insolvency regimes.
They look at:
Who is selling distressed assets?
What are the drivers for sale?
Are there “hot spots” across Europe?
Are there any particular sector trends?
Are…